Authorities: Wounded Raleigh officer hit by police bullet

Updated 4:07 pm, Thursday, December 1, 2016

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Police investigating a landlord's report that an evicted man broke back into his apartment wounded the suspect and a fellow officer, authorities said Thursday.

Both men were taken to the hospital Wednesday with gunshot wounds, and the officer was later released. The suspect remained hospitalized Thursday.

The encounter began Wednesday after the landlord called 911 to say the tenant had returned hours after he was evicted with assistance from the sheriff's office, according to an emergency call released Thursday. The landlord said the man, who is black, had broken back into the apartment at the complex south of North Carolina State University.

Audio recordings of police radio show that several officers were on the scene within minutes. Less than 10 minutes after the initial emergency call, someone is heard on the radio reporting that shots were fired: "Need EMS, officer shot ... officer down."

A city of Raleigh news release said bullets fired by police hit the officer and the suspect. Authorities say the suspect had a knife during the encounter.

The news release identified the suspect as 28-year-old Chijioke Kennedy Madueke. He was in critical but stable condition Wednesday night, but authorities didn't update his condition on Thursday.

David Blount, a city spokesman, said the three officers involved in the shooting are white, but he didn't have any more information on who fired the shots. He said there is not body camera footage of the shooting.

The officers have been placed on leave and the state is investigating, both standard measures in shootings involving police officers.

Blount said he didn't have any information on what charges Madueke may face. A phone listing for Madueke rang unanswered.

Officers swarmed the scene Wednesday after the shooting and kept the complex roped off with police tape for hours.

At an apartment complex across the street, bystander Philip Palmer said he heard numerous gunshots through an open door to his screened-in porch, followed by people talking loudly and sounding upset.